


Whirlwind in New York

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Children, F/M, Family, Humor, Post Bartlett Administration, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-01
Updated: 2009-03-01
Packaged: 2019-05-15 22:05:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14798825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Deborah gets her PhD from Columbia





	Whirlwind in New York

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: Alternative universe, total fantasy (or is it?)Spoilers through end of series; possible spoilers for \"Holding Hands on the Way Down\"

 

 

 

 

Not mine, never were, never will be, but they consume my soul

 

 

 

 

Feedback and criticism always welcomed  


* * *

**Day two – Late May, 2017; New York, NY; 11:30 PM EDT**

“The children were no trouble at all, Mrs. Reeves. Caitlin did seem to have a bit of a bad dream, but she quieted again without waking.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Robinson,” CJ said, stepping out of the way as Paul carried a sleeping Paddy from the adjoining hotel room and laid him on one of the beds in the room that the boy was sharing with Derrick.

Paul thanked the middle-aged babysitter and handed her several bills.

“Sweetheart, I’m going to go with Mrs. Robinson down to the lobby, make sure she gets to her cab.”

“Oh, please don’t bother, it’s late,” the woman protested.

“It’s no bother. There are a bunch of sailors on leave; they’re a bit ah, exuberant,” the minister said, charming her with his smile.

At that point, Derrick came into the room. He had gone with Joe, whose room was on another floor, to make sure that his grandfather would be okay.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes, sweetheart,” Paul told CJ as he and Mrs. Robinson left the room.

CJ checked on Paddy, kissing his forehead and adjusting the covers. She and Derrick exchanged hugs (“Night, Mama”) and she walked into the other room, closing the door between them. She turned to the bed that her daughters shared and then started as her cell rang. It was the Palmers’ land line.

“CJ, there’s been some bad news. Liz Bartlet has cervical cancer.” Carol paused as CJ gasped. “She had an abnormal Pap smear last month and when they redid it, it came back with the same results, so they did a biopsy. It’s very early stage, and very contained, but they’ll be doing a hysterectomy tomorrow in Boston. Annie, Gus, and the others are scared but trying to be hopeful.”

As Carol was talking, there was a knock on the door and CJ, looking through the peephole, saw her husband. She undid the safety latches and opened the door to let him into the room.

“Carol,” she mouthed, as Paul silently asked about the call. Then he lightly kissed her forehead and went into the bath.

Five minutes later, after getting details from Carol about the hospital, CJ rang off and joined Paul in the bath.

Paul rinsed with mouthwash and smiled as he caught sight of her. His face paled slightly as she told him the news, remembering not only Alicia’s illness but also Danny’s and the two of them held each other as Paul whispered a prayer for Liz. CJ took in the smell of Paul’s body wash. No matter how often she told him that he found the scent of his body at the end of the day very alluring, Paul often felt he needed to sponge off before bed.

A whimper came from the main room.

“I’ll go,” Paul smiled at his wife.

CJ brushed her teeth, washed the makeup from her face, and slipped out of her clothes. Folding them, she picked up her nightgown and slipped into it.

It was a beautiful shade of teal. There were white and coral roses embroidered around the neckline. It was pretty, it was feminine. It was also knee-length, made of cotton knit, with elbow length sleeves. It was not the type of sleepwear a woman would pack for several nights in a hotel room with her husband, unless she and her husband were sharing said room with their two pre-school daughters and unless said room adjoined one occupied by their two sons, one of whom was a healthy young man in his mid-twenties.

Shutting off the light and walking into the bedroom, she blessed the custom of their times, the one that had no problem with a man’s upper body, the one that allowed her husband to go about bare-chested. The silk of the pajama pants he packed for this trip almost duplicated his skin tone and as she looked at him lying on the bed, she relished the sight of burnished brown against the sheets that glowed ivory in the dim lamplight.

Stopping by the first bed, CJ tousled two little mops of hair, one black and one red, each little girl’s locks a reflection of the man who fathered her. Although she was the younger, Dansha was holding Caitlin in her arms, as if to protect her older sister from whatever had disturbed her sleep twice this evening.

CJ sighed. It had been a long two days.

Yesterday morning, the six of them had left San Francisco at 9:00 AM, expecting to reach New York a little before 6:00 PM. (They had chosen to cross the bay in order to get a non-stop flight with decent departure and arrival times.) However, a fellow passenger suffered a heart attack and the plane made an emergency stop in Kansas City, where a storm kept them on the ground, on the plane, for an additional ninety minutes. Luckily, the additional snacks and beverages were loaded before the storm hit. Unluckily, it meant that the plane didn’t hit the tarmac at JFK until 8:45 PM and by the time they collected their luggage and got to their hotel, it was 10:15 PM. While on the ground in Missouri, Paul was able to reach Deborah and Tom, who had been in New York for two days because of events sponsored by the School of Journalism, and when he called again from baggage claim, the couple ordered soup, sandwiches, and beverages – adult and soft – from room service, which was waiting in their rooms. Because of the time difference, CJ had kept the kids away from caffeine and from sugar, so even though their little body clocks said 8:30, the three of them were falling asleep over their plates.

When Derrick told CJ that he would take care of getting Paddy into bed, she told the young lawyer to not bother with pajamas, but to just strip him down to his underwear. (“You’re barely keeping your eyes open yourself.”)

She and Paul did the same thing with the girls, pulling off their shoes, socks, and jeans, but leaving them in their shirts, and tucked them into one of the queen beds in their room. Changing into her gown, CJ sat on the edge of the bed to remove her jewelry.

The next thing she knew, the bedside clock read 6:45 am. As CJ lifted her head, Paul turned to face her and pushed her to her back, his smile indicating that what they had missed last night was on the morning’s agenda.

Just as Paul’s hand began to push her sleep shirt toward her waist, the door between their room and their sons’ banged open.

“Mama! Papa! We can see the park from our windows!”

Paul swore softly under his breath. Before he could remind Paddy that the “knock before entering” rule applied here as well, Caitlin and Dansha woke up and in a flash, and all three youngsters were piling onto the bed with Paul and CJ. Soon, a sleepy Derrick was standing in the doorway. CJ and Paul looked at each other and sighed.

They got Joe from his room (Deborah and Tom were again doing something at Columbia) and, after breakfast in a diner recommended by the hotel desk personnel (“They serve it all day and with the kids, it will be much cheaper than our restaurant.”) they set out for some site-seeing.

The Statue of Liberty was first on their list. The age range of the children complicated things a bit. At almost eight, Paddy was full of enthusiasm and energy. At four “and a half” years and at twenty-eight months, Caitlin and Dansha started out with both traits but soon became tired and bored. By the time they caught the boat back to Manhattan, Paul and Derrick were each carrying a cranky and sleepy little girl. CJ had a blanket in her knapsack, so they went to Central Park. CJ and Joe sat while the girls napped in the sun. Paul, Derrick, and Paddy rented a paddle boat. After getting food from a hotdog cart, they went to St. Patrick’s cathedral and then returned to the hotel to relax in the pool area.

That evening, Paul, CJ, Joe, and Derrick had plans with Tom and Deborah. Taking advantage of the hotel’s list of approved baby-sitters, the adults had dinner in Little Italy at a restaurant that was a favorite of the young couple, and followed the meal with a trip to a jazz club.

CJ kissed each little girl, then turned around.

Paul smiled at her, held out a hand.

“Come to me, sweetheart.”

CJ shut off the lamp on the stand between the beds and slipped next to her husband and he drew the bedcovers over the two of them.

Ten minutes later, CJ tried to caress Paul’s chest. He chuckled against her neck as he captured her hand and lifted it above her head, putting it next to her other hand, and holding the both of them in place with one hand, returned his other hand to the front of her nightwear and continued to undo the nine snaps on the garment.

Twenty minutes later, CJ sighed as she realized that the last time someone had paid this much time with her breasts, it was probably that October in the early 1980’s when such caresses were the limit that she had allowed in the past and the limit that Paul was methodically but patiently trying to pass.

His lips tugged gently on her nipple and she felt the reaction travel down her stomach to the place that ached to be filled.

“Please,” she whispered.

Paul chuckled again and sat up, lightly kissing her mouth before kissing her abdomen through the nightshirt. CJ squirmed in anticipation as he kissed her navel and, his hand now at the hem of her gown, prepared to lower his head to where she was needing it to be.

Then Caitlin whimpered in her sleep.

Paul and CJ froze.

Caitlin cried again, but before either of her parents could go to the little girl, they heard Dansha’s gentle whisper.

“No cry, Ca-lin. Dansha hug. Dansha help.”

CJ and Paul heard the sound of a soft kiss and soon the only noise was that of two gentle snores.

Paul reached up and deeply kissed his wife; this time he did not stop her as she reached for him and he quickly returned to full rigidity.

“The other way, sweetheart,” he whispered, and CJ turned away from him, lying on her right side. She felt Paul’s hand moving behind her and as he raised her nightshirt, she moved her upper leg up and away, anticipating his entry. She felt Paul move close behind her and, his right hand slipped under her neck as his left hand finally touched the aching, throbbing little bit that was the center of her consciousness. Beginning a relentless circling motion, Paul pushed himself into her carefully, pulling her back against him. As he moved within her, she felt the caress of silk against her backside and knew that rather than lowering his pajamas, he had merely slipped his hardness through the opening. As countless couples had done since the beginning of time, when a lack of privacy in a communal cave demanded circumspection, Paul and CJ fulfilled each other’s need with delicacy.

When Paul could sense that CJ was reaching completion, he moved the hand under her head and covered her mouth before she could scream. Then, burying his mouth into her hair, he gave into his own passion.

They remained spooned with each other until he slipped from inside her. Paul pushed on CJ’s shoulder to bring her to her back. Turning onto his back, he pulled her against his side. They indulged in a few minutes of after play until sleep overtook them.

**Day three; Columbia University campus**

“CJ? Are you okay?”

Derrick put his arm around his stepmother’s shoulders. He first noticed her quietness earlier in the day a few minutes after they had walked onto the Columbia campus. However, Tom and his parents had just spied the five of them and had called over to them. Then came the rush to get seats for the formal Commencement ceremony for the University, with all its pomp and circumstance. Afterward, while Joe treated the others to lunch, Paul and CJ made a quick trip back to the hotel to collect Caitlin and Dansha, who were once again in Mrs. Robinson’s care.

There was a more informal ceremony at the Graduate School of Journalism that afternoon. Tickets were more plentiful, and Tom’s sister, her husband, and her daughter joined the group. Several of the faculty recognized CJ, knew of her role in the Bartlet administration and asked after the former president, knew of her marriage to Danny and asked how she was doing.

Now the Reeves and Jeffersons were taking picture after picture, and CJ wasn’t in this series. She stood off to the side and Derrick once more got the impression that something else was on her mind.

“I’m fine.”

But the smile was a little too bright and Derrick pushed again.

“Tell me.”

His smile was so much like his father’s; his eyes were such much like his father’s.

“I was just remembering being here when they gave Danny his last Pulitzer; it was posthumous, of course. It was pretty like today, spring in New York. I felt so bad about having missed the other three. Paddy was sick for the one for Leo’s book; the one for the Sharif story – well, there was no way I could show up for **that** , and the first one, well, that was when he was just a guy who flirted with me. Anyway, I just wish I could have shared those times with him.” Then, she stopped, looked down, and then up into his face. “Derrick, I love your father beyond all, I wouldn’t trade”

“I know.”

His look of understanding, of “you don’t have to explain yourself to me”, was so much like his father’s.

“ _I wish you could have been there for them, too, CJ. All of them. The first one, I hoped it might convince you that I could be more than a White House reporter. The one for Sharif, well, I knew you couldn’t be there, but part of me still strained to see if maybe, in the back of the crowd – well, I knew that you understood. And then when I got the card later. The one for Leo, well, Toby and everyone else made up for that, and the fact that it was my son that you were tending.”_

“ _I’m so proud of my Deborah!” Alicia came running up to Danny. “All these doctors in the family!”_

“ _And you, too,” Danny said, handing her a scrolled piece of paper._

_Puzzled, Alicia opened the roll. It proclaimed her Doctor of Philosophy in Art History. It was signed “Leonardo”._

“ _Come on. Your mother and grandmother have a boatload of food ready.”_

“ _Okay, but first, let’s stop - ”. And Alicia pulled Danny toward Cassiopeia’s Chair._

The group around Deborah broke up. 

“So, what’s next?” Tom’s sister Tracy asked. 

“If you remembered to bring your suits, time at the pool at our hotel until dinner,” Tom said.

“What time is the reservation, again? I think I might want a nap,” Joe asked.

“Seven, Granddad,” Deborah told him.

Paddy was happy. Tonight, he and Tessa would be eating with the grownups instead of in the hotel room with the babysitter and his little sisters. He hoped he remembered to pull out Tessa’s chair for her. He also hoped that Derrick would be sitting on the other side of him instead of Mama. Mama tended to fuss over him in restaurants. Derrick would tell him what the fancy words on the menu meant, but his brother would do it without making a big scene about it. Sometimes, when Mama told him that he shouldn’t order something, it made him feel like a baby; Derrick and Papa always let him know things quietly, important things like “sweetbreads” weren’t what they sounded like, that “escargots” were snails, and to stay away from things named “lamb fries” or “Rocky Mountain oysters”. And Paddy knew that if he was totally confused, he could always say something like “I don’t know, what sounds good to you?” to Derrick or Papa without being cornered into chicken fingers or a hamburger patty.

**Later that evening**

“May I have the bill?” Paul asked the waiter.

“No, I’ll take it,” George Jefferson said, reaching for his wallet.

“It’s already been handled, gentlemen,” the waiter responded.

“Derrick, you shouldn’t- ”.

“Son!” George turned to Tom.

Louise Jefferson and CJ smiled at each other. Aware of what would probably happen, the two of them had spoken with the man earlier when they “went to the powder room” and the charges, along with a substantial tip, was split between their credit cards.

**Day four; brownstone of Toby Ziegler and Andrea Wyatt Ziegler**

“Andy apologizes for not being here, but I’m sure you understand. I’m just not sure I do, not sure that I’m ready for this.”

Last night, Ginger had called Andy and Toby. Sev (Richard VII) had just found out that his date for the senior prom being held in two days had just undergone an emergency appendectomy. Would Toby and Andy be willing to allow him to ask Molly to attend the dance with him. Everyone else in his crowd was paired off and he didn’t want to go stag. Ginger and Rick were hosting the after prom party at their DC townhouse, so there would be no illicit activity or consumption of adult beverages. Andy convinced Toby to say “yes”, so the phones were handed to the two young people and now Andy and Molly were out buying a first “formal”.

CJ, Caitlin, and Dansha were visiting with the Zieglers while Paul, Joe, Derrick and Paddy took in a Mets’ game. (Had it been the Yankees, Toby and Huck would have joined them.) Tom and Deborah were seeing two of Tom’s Med School classmates who were in residency at Yale.

“How exciting for Molly!”

“But she’s just fourteen! A baby! She’s not yet in high school and he’s graduating from high school!” Toby sputtered.

“And Sev is just a friend, at least for now. All our kids are almost like cousins,” CJ answered. “Speaking of kids, I don’t hear - ”

CJ and Toby walked from the kitchen to the den. Dansha and Alexis had fallen asleep on the floor in front of the TV. Huck was helping Caitlin with a puzzle.

“No, Caitlin, that’s not right.”

“The colors are the same.”

“But the hole in this piece is much bigger than the sticking-out part of the other one.”

“Huck, you don’t have to spend your time with Caitlin,” CJ told Molly’s twin. “I’m sure you have better things to do than playing with a four year old.”

“Four and a half, Mama!”

“It’s no problem, ma’am. Enjoy your visit with Dad.”

CJ and Toby had already turned back to the kitchen. They didn’t see the look of happiness on Huck’s face as his eyes briefly turned older than time.

“I defend my thesis next week,” Toby told CJ.

“Tobus!” CJ got up to hug him. “So you’ll be Dr. Ziegler by the end of the year!”

“Go outside, turn around three times, and spit!”

“I have every confidence in you, my friend.”

CJ and Toby started as noise from the street interrupted their conversation. It died down to the sound of the front door closing.

“We’re home!” Andy announced.

“Come let me see,” CJ called out. “We’re in the kitchen!”

“Yes, come let me do a thumbs up or down,” Toby added.

Andy and Molly walked into the room. Andy was carrying a long garment bag.

“Aunt CJ!” Molly ran up to hug the woman. Then Andy and CJ kissed each other’s cheek.

The dress was deep amethyst cotton lace over a dyed-to-match lining. It was sleeveless with a surplice bodice.

“The neck isn’t too low?” Toby asked.

“She can wear a regular bra,” Andy told her husband. “It’s fine. What did you want, a turtle neck?”

“Well, maybe a round one, with puffed sleeves and a bow in the back.” He laughed along with CJ and Andy as Molly rolled her eyes and said “Oh, Daddy!”

“At first, I wanted something strapless,” Molly told them, “but Mom said that it might make Sev uncomfortable, trying to figure out how to pin a corsage on it. I’m going to get flowers! We found some little silver sandals, and a pair of purple flip-flops for afterwards. Daddy, is it okay if I borrow Mom’s pearls? Are you going to come down to DC with us?”

“Sweetheart, your first fancy dance, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Huck and Caitlin came into the kitchen.

“Nice dress, Molls.”

“Pretty purple.”

Caitlin reached out to touch the gown.

“Yes, it is, baby,” CJ said as she reached down to pick up her daughter and hold the little redhead on her lap.

“You always did look nice in that color.”

“What was that, Huck? What did you say?”

Toby turned to Huck as he asked the questions. For an instant, he thought that Huck’s eyes looked strange, but when he looked again, they were the same as always. I must be getting old, the Columbia professor said to himself.

“Just that it’s a nice color. Not a little girl’s color but not a really sophisticated one either. What’s the phrase? Age-appropriate?”

“Caitlin, would you like to come upstairs with me and help me play with my hair?” Molly asked the child. Alexis was still a bit too young to be an adoring younger sister and Molly took pleasure in the way Caitlin was looking at her and at her dress.

“Come on, Huck, let’s go check on the nappers,” Toby said, leading his son out of the kitchen.

Andy poured herself a cup of coffee and, holding up the pot, asked CJ if she needed a refill (she did).

“Have you heard anymore about Liz?” Andy asked CJ.

“Zoey called earlier this morning. The surgery went well and the doctors are pretty confident they got it all. They did go ahead and take the ovaries as well, so, instant menopause. She’ll be with Zoey and Charlie for two weeks and then Annie and Renée will be with her in New Hampshire. The Faisons will be there for the second half of June.”

Andy took a long sip from her cup.

“Well, I’m a bit relieved, just as I was when you had your little scare with your breasts. Everything’s still okay with that? You aren’t keeping anything from the rest of us?”

“Yes. No,” CJ answered Andy’s questions.

“So we’ve been pretty lucky,” Andy said.

_“Except for me,” Danny whispered._

“And me,” Simon echoed.

“And us. That’s life, guys.” Abbey said, as she and Helen came up behind them. “We’re going over to Hercules to play mixed doubles with Leo and Fitz. Come watch us.” 

Except for Danny, CJ thought to herself. Then she smiled at Andy. “From your lips to God’s ear.”

There was a sound of stirring from the den and the two women went to check on their youngest children.

As they each held a little girl on their lap, Andy and CJ talked of the others.

Andy thought that Josh had finally accepted Sam’s willingness to defer to Louis Berryhill and not pursue the nomination for ’18. Josh would do all he could to help the former Secretary of State, but Bruno Gianelli would be running the show for Lou.

“Neal Sherman’s not going to seek reelection. I’m going to run for his seat,” Andy told CJ.

“Andy, that’s wonderful!” CJ exclaimed. “Now that I think about it, Toby did act like he was having the hardest time keeping a secret earlier. You must be so excited!”

“Excited. Apprehensive. A little unsure about leaving my safe house seat for having to win over the entire state. A since Sam isn’t running, I’m thinking about asking Josh for help. I’m going to feel out Donna over the weekend. It’s a shame you guys can’t come down to DC for a day or two before going back.”

“Paul and I agreed that we would just do New York, just have a whirlwind trip in and out. Everyone was asking – Josh and Donna, Tom’s family, the President wanted us in Manchester, Paul’s friends at Yale Divinity. But we’ll be back at the end of July for Ginger. It was nice of her to move the reunion so we could come back for it right before we go over for Aisling and Jamie’s wedding.”

“Actually, it works out better for us as well. Toby has a chance to go to Colombia – the country, I mean – and oversee the elections.

**Day five; JFK Airport; late morning**

“Good-bye, Dr. Jefferson. Good-bye, Dr. Jefferson,” CJ laughed as she hugged her stepdaughter and step-son-in-law. We’ll see you again in July at Albion.”

“Enjoy Denver, enjoy Laramie,” Derrick told his sister. (The Jeffersons were flying to Denver for a day and then going on the University of Wyoming, where Tom would be shepherding third year med students from Alaska who were part of WWAMI, the collaborative medical school program for the universities of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho, through a GP clerkship.)

Paul hugged his daughter. “I’m so proud of you, Deborah. And your mother would be - ”

“ _I am.”_

“I know,” Deborah said, reaching up to kiss his cheek.

Then the disembodied voice announced the final boarding call for the flight and the young couple disappeared through the jetway.

“Well, let’s go find our gate.”

**That evening; Kensington, CA**

“Sleep tight, little ones,” CJ said as she closed the door to her daughters’ bedroom.

Walking up the hall, she peeked into the other room. Paddy was also sound asleep, holding onto Jasmine (who hadn’t left the little boy’s side since they picked her up at the kennel on the way home from the airport). From the family room, she heard the soft rumble of Derrick’s voice. He had been on the phone with Natasha for a good half-hour.

CJ walked into her bedroom and shut the door. Turning around, she caught sight of Paul sitting in bed. He smiled at her and put down the journal he had been reading.

“Just give me a minute to change,” she said, reaching for the drawer that held her night things.

“Undress, yes; change, no.”

Paul slipped out of the bed.

He was nude.

He was ready.

And in a minute, so was CJ.

New York was nice, CJ thought. Home was nicer.


End file.
